Com-Pac 27

[Bewildered]

Does anyone know the number of C-27s that were made?  I am looking at possibly buying hull # 148--according to the HIN--and that seems like a large number for a 1993 boat. 

[crazycarl]

It could be. The numbering doesn't start over each year. My Orion is #124. They were built from 1978-1993. Mine is a 1990.

[MHardy]

Just for reference, my 1987 CP-27 is hull number 52. No idea how many were made, but it would be interesting to know.

[TopsailB]

The HIN on my boat is ABV00102E889. She's #102. I once talked with Gerry Hutchins about production, and he shared that during the 80's into the 90's Com-Pac was building about one CP27 each week. Keith Scott, owner of The Sailboat Company, told me he alone sold 43 as a dealer. Hull #148 for a 1993 sounds reasonable to me.

[SJMason]

How do you determine the model number from this HIN?

I'm thinking that you can't in this case because my 2016 Picnic Cat has the same format:  ABV00362L516

Another Picnic Cat (2009) has ABV00293D909

I know that several models use the first two digits after ABV to indicate the model.

Stephen

[MHardy]

Just search "how to read a boat HIN". There's lot of explanations.

[bruce]

Since 1972, the first 3 digits are the manufacture's code, ABV for Com-Pac. The last 4 digits are model year and build date, some variance if it's before or after 1984. That leaves 5 digits for the manufacture to use at their discretion, to establish an identifying serial number. Those 5 digits are the hull number.

Com-Pac did use hull lengths or model initials in some cases in the first two digits; at least some Sun Cats have 17 as the first two digits. I think the Horizon Cats start with HC, but my memory may be off. PCs, and many others, were always 00. I assume, if they hadn't established a model designation, the next boat built got the next consecutive hull number, regardless of model, otherwise the hull numbers wouldn't be unique. Number 00XXX could be any model, and 00XXX+1 could be another model entirely.

When the owner's registry on this forum was active, it was easy to scroll through the hull numbers and see if a model designation had been assigned in the first two digits. Unfortunately, the registry seems not to be accessible at this time.

For the manufacturer who hoped to sell more than 999 units of a model, using the first two digits for model designation was constricting. Using just one digit for model designation is problematic, IMO 6 digits would be better.

[SJMason]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the additional explanation.  The new information for me was that Hutchins did use both three digit and five digit hull number sequencing.

I have an older Horizon Cat (2002 boat) with HIN ABV20006C202. Perhaps later boats did use "HC" as a two digit model number along with a three digit hull number.

I did come across a Horizon Day Cat that has the following HIN: ABVDC109D516.

The CP23 Pilot House boats had the following format: ABV23P12J122

The Picnic Cat boats that I have come across have a five digit hull# and seem to be sequenced with the same format as the CP27.  I'm betting that the CP 25 and CP 35 are the same format and sequencing, but I have not come across a CP 25 or CP 35.

Thanks again,

Stephen

[bruce]

Seeing your Horizon Cat with the 20006 hull number leads me to think that's what I'd seen, the "20" representing the boat length, like the Sun Cat, and not "HC". The Day Cat with a "DC" is interesting, and the 23 Pilot House "23P".

I vaguely recall other letter designations being used in the registry, maybe with a Legacy or Eclipse?

[SJMason]

Hi Bruce,

The following are some other boats I know of, and may answer  questions on those models:

Suncat: ABV17533K223 (Note: Sunday Cat and Suncat Day Sailor have same "17" model number and three digit hull sequence number, however the Day Sailor HIN has two extra letters. My Suncat Day Sailor is USABV17120F203. I don't believe my title has these two extra letters "US", but they are certainly stamped in the hull)

Legacy: ABV16100L425 (Note: This boat is believed to be the last Legacy built and is now owned by a nice couple in New York).  I'm not sure if the Legacy Sport has the same model number and three digit hull sequence number.

Eclipse: ABV18104H425 (Note: This boat is believed to be the last Eclipse built. I have this boat and use it as my profile photo for this forum)

CP23-IV: ABV23672A424 (Note: This boat is believed to be the last CP23 built and is located in Pueblo, Colorado)

Picnic Cat: ABV00362E516 (Note: This 5 digit hull sequence number format appears to run with the CP16, CP27, and I'm guessing, but haven't seen the format for the CP25, CP35 and potentially other earlier models).  The highest CP16 HIN that I have personally come across is a 1992 boat with ABV02800C292. I'm sure there are boats with higher hull numbers, but I don't remember what year they stopped building the CP16. I'm also guessing that the last Picnic Cat built would have the highest five digit HIN sequence number.

The Pilot House format is also noted in my previous post.  I believe there were 13 to 14 Pilot House boats built. I can verify one boat has HIN ABV23P12J122

My 2002 Horizon Cat as noted is ABV20006C202. Note: This boat was used in Hutchins advertising including the brochure.

A Horizon Day Cat that I looked at in Florida has HIN ABVDC109D516.

Those are the formats that I know of, and I finally understood them once you cleared up that Hutchins had used both three digit and five digit hull sequence numbers.

Thanks again,

Stephen